It is common today to have a display in a restaurant giving menu item and price information, particularly in restaurants of the type known as "fast food" restaurants. The restaurant is often arranged with a service counter to which a customer goes to order food items and behind which employees are positioned to take and fill orders. Above, or above and behind, this counter there is commonly a large sign which displays lists of items available and the sizes and prices of those items, sometimes with other descriptive information.
The sign also can, and often does, include pictorial representations of some of the food items to inform the customer about the size, characteristics and general appearance of some of the items. In recent years, these signs have been backlighted, i.e., constructed so that illumination is provided behind the alpha-numeric-bearing portions and the pictures. Selected portions of the sign are then made of translucent material and other portions are either opaque or contrastingly translucent so that the letters and numbers are readable, and the pictures are translucent in different colors, much like on enlarged photographic slide, and illuminated from behind.
when new menu items are being introduced or old ones deleted in a specific restaurant, or when price changes are necessary, it has previously been necessary to dismantle a major portion of the sign so that new alpha-numeric portions can be substituted for old ones.
This is often a difficult and time consuming procedure and one which cannot be accomplished during normal service hours. Thus, introduction of the new items is inhibited. Also, deletion of items no longer available and the indication of price changes is either inhibited or is accomplished by temporary measures (e.g., paper and tape) which results in a sign presenting a tacky, unattractive appearance.
Furthermore, previously used signs of this type are extremely limited in the sizes and positions of pictures of food items which can be incorporated in the sign and such pictures are generally not easily replaceable, if at all.
Prior art examples of sign structures are found in the following U.S. patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,120,876--Witz PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,939,235--Wamser PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 1,775,151--Auerbach PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,284,626--Adler PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,306,511--Wagner PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,742,633--Palm PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,584--Trame PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,646--Branham